![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by FalconNJ on February 16, 2004, at 16:48:19
Dear Doc,
Im hoping you can help me here. I'm a 33 year old man with panic disorder which is under control to an extent but I have no sex drive at all. It started 3 years ago when my panic attacks became worse while I was on 150 mg of serzone a day. I went through a bad breakup and the serzone just stopped working so my doc put me on paxil.well that was the last time I saw my sex drive. I let it go for a few months since it did stop my anxiety but then I wanted to feel a bit more normal. I asked to switch to another med. if possible. I went form paxil to zoloft to efexor then back to serzone but no change. over the course if the next year nothing seemed to work. I decided then to have my testosterone levels checked. they were 340 which I and my doctor felt was low for someone of my age. The doc then gave me some injectable testosterone 200 mg/ml. well it made everything worse I was more depressed and had an even lower sex drive. Then I went to see an endocrinologist that doctor gave me a test. gel. I had the same reaction. We checked my levels after using it for a a week and they were 600. Yet still I had no sex drive. Well, then they thought I might have a pituitary tumor so I was given a cat scan and I was tested for all kinds of things from HIV to testicular cancer. You can imagine the affect this all had on my anxiety. Yet all tests came back negative. I decided to stop all medications and see what happens. I went off all ssri's and testosterone. I was off everything for 9 months hoping the sex drive would return but it didn't. Now im at a loss im a healthy 33 yo 5 9 165 lbs. man with no desire to really have sex. this is causing even more problems in my daily life and in my relationships. I would love to know why the testosterone had such a negative effect on me if that's what I'm lacking or if it was ssri induced sexual dysfunction why when I went off did it not come back? Please help there has to be some way to fix this mess before im too old to even have sex. I just now started on Lexapro it seems to be helping with the anxeity but again no desire to have sex. Again, please help.
Posted by Phil on February 16, 2004, at 19:32:22
In reply to sex drive problems, posted by FalconNJ on February 16, 2004, at 16:48:19
The testosterone had a negative effect because you most likely didn't need it. A little low should not be treated with injections or anything else for that matter.
You don't have a sex drive now probably due to depression. Try augmenting your Lexapro with Wellbutrin XL, it's a common strategy and often works.
Remember, discuss it first with a highly qualified psychiatrist. Your other doc is a little scary.
Also, stims are great augmentors of SSRI's for sex drive, too. They also make SSRI's more effective in many cases, good luck.my .02
Posted by rainee on February 16, 2004, at 23:52:52
In reply to sex drive problems, posted by FalconNJ on February 16, 2004, at 16:48:19
This has nothing to do with your post.. but I grew up in NJ and we were the Jefferson Falcons!
Posted by francesco on February 17, 2004, at 6:02:58
In reply to sex drive problems, posted by FalconNJ on February 16, 2004, at 16:48:19
Your post beats me. But there can be a logical explaination. Maybe when you're off meds you have no sex drive because you're depressed or anxious and when you are on meds you have no sex drive because of the SSRI's side effects. I suspect also that a big factor of your lack of sex drive can be psychological. If you have not stopped wondering in the last years about your lack of sex drive this could have contributed to the lack of sex drive itself. Maybe what you have to do is curing your psychiatric disorders giving the preference to the meds that can boost your desire. Wellbutrin as an augmentation of SSRIs ? I found that Wellbutrin improved a lot my sexual desire (even too much I think), but it was unesuful in itself for my psychiatric disorders. Finding a good p-doc that it's a sexuologist also can be a further option. Good Luck !
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.